In the Loop

Department store giant Macy’s has announced they’ll be shuttering 63 stores in 2017. The Christmas retail numbers were sluggish, particularly for the traditional “anchor” stores in malls across the U.S. These and other signs point to a re-imagining of the American mall, an institution that’s stayed pretty much the same for the last 5 decades. Matt Billerbeck and his colleagues at the architecture and planning firm of Callison RTKL have been re-imagining the mall of the future.

Ask a millennial in the U.S. about their top concerns and chances are the spread of nuclear weapons isn’t on the list. The economy, education and inequality ranked high on the list, according to polls taken before the 2016 presidential election. There's one millennial though who calls nuclear weapons the biggest public health issue today and is trying to get her peers to see the dangers and take action. 

President Barack Obama made Chicago his hometown in the 1980s, but Michelle Obama is a true Chicago native. She grew up in the South Shore neighborhood and attended Whitney M. Young Magnet High School. WBEZ’s Jenn White and Natalie Moore last week spoke to current and former students at the high school about the connection they feel toward the first lady and what could be her legacy. Below are highlights from the conversation.

Before she was First Lady, Michelle Obama was a daughter of the South Side neighborhood of South Shore, a graduate of Princeton and Harvard Law, a lawyer, a University of Chicago dean and a hospital administrator. From the East Wing of the White House, she fought against childhood obesity and for veterans services and education for girls around the world.  Morning Shift spoke with Peter Slevin, associate professor at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism and author of the 2015 book Michelle Obama: A Life about the impact Michelle Obama had during her eight years as first lady and what her legacy will be.

President Barack Obama hands over the keys to the White House next week to President-elect Donald Trump, who has vowed to repeal many of Obama’s big policy accomplishments, such as the Affordable Care Act. In a wide-ranging interview with Morning Shift host Tony Sarabia, former Obama staffers David Axelrod and Austan Goolsbee talk about Obama’s eight years in the White House and what legacy he might leave behind.

With so many strains of influenza out there, some say the science behind a yearly flu vaccine is a guessing game that may or may not keep you or the people around you from catching the bug. Rahul Subramanian, a graduate student at the University of Chicago, has been leading a study since his undergrad years looking at how a “universal vaccine” might not only keep you healthy but even stop a major pandemic. 

If you haven’t taken down your Christmas tree yet, now is the time.  Chicago park districts are recycling Christmas trees for free until Jan. 21. The trees will be turned into reusable mulch and recycling trees divert waste from landfills -- something sorely needed in Chicago, whose overall recycling rate has declined for the third year in a row.  Recent reports show that Chicago is only recycling about 9 percent of its waste -- compared to cities like San Francisco, California, which has a recycling rate of around 80 percent, and Austin, Texas, which has a rate of about 42 percent.  City officials are looking to re-educate the public to go more green. So why aren’t Chicagoans recycling? Morning Shift spoke with Chris Sauve, deputy commissioner for the Department of Streets and Sanitation, about the city’s recycling re-education effort.

Republican Eric Holcomb took the oath of office Monday as the 51st governor of Indiana. His rise to governor follows an improbable series of events: A year ago, Holcomb was a struggling Senate candidate who had never won an election -- until he defeated Democrat John Gregg for governor in November 2016. WBEZ's Michael Puente joined the Morning Shift to talk about Holcomb's background and priorities for the Hoosier State.

Every year, thousands of people flock to Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show. From gaming to vehicles to gadgets that make your home “smarter”, technology companies from all over the world show off their latest wares.  David Pierce, senior writer for Wired joins us to talk about some of the coolest things he saw at CES, and the tech trends we should be looking out for in 2017.

Ever find yourself wishing you could escape the bitter cold and get from point A to point B via an underground tunnel? Now you can in parts of Chicago’s Loop. Thing is, not many people—both tourists and everyday pedestrians—know such a tunnel system exists. The city and a non-profit are hoping to change that and get more pedestrians to use the Pedway System.  This week some stakeholders are holding public meetings to go over some ideas for upgrading the decades-old system. Morning Shift talks to Chicago Tribune’s architecture critic Blair Kamin and gets his thoughts on the Pedway.